Murder may be connected to prior Huntington shooting

Another Huntington murder sent the already record high rates higher Tuesday.

The city has now had 18 murders in 2017.

Kafredrick Mceachin’s murder was the ninth since Oct. 1, and the third shooting within the week in the River City.

Friends and family were overcome with emotion as Mceachin lay feet away dead in the Huntington Mart parking lot alongside Hal Greer Boulevard.

Police said the shooter, Antwon Starkey, chased Mceachin across the lot, stood over him and shot him several times.

Starkey has been charged with murder.

Police arrested him on Fifth Avenue after they said he called 911, and told them where he was.

Mceachin’s murder has been connected to another shooting in late November that injured a 14-year-old girl.

Multiple sources confirmed that Starkey is that 14-year-old victim’s stepfather.

Capt. Hank Dial with the Huntington Police Department said police are looking into the possibility that several recent shootings are connected.

"They happened in real close proximity of time, and a couple of them happened in a close proximity of place," Dial said.

In a news conference called in response to a mounting wave of violence, city leaders got together with Marshall police, State Police, the Cabell County Sheriff’s Office and several other agencies to discuss their plan on cracking down.

There have been nine homicides since October, multiple shootings and armed robberies all pumping fear into people in Huntington.